Athlete rockers

 Who knew that musicians are also accomplished athletes? These rockers prove that you can not only play music but sports as well! And some of them even have kids who turned to sports!

Mick Jagger

-Before becoming the front man for The Rolling Stones, vocalist Mick Jagger was on his high school's basketball team. His father was the PE teacher and basketball coach. His years of playing sports and training have kept him in top physical condition, even into his 70s

Prince

-Prior to "Little Red Corvette" making him famous, this musician rocked hard on the basketball court

George Thorogood

-He was an avid baseball player in school

Al Jardine, Brian Wilson

-These Beach Boys members both were teammates on their high school's football team

Clarence Clemons

-The famed saxophone player for The E Street band played semiprofessional baseball before dropping the bat and ball and picking up a saxophone

Alice Cooper

-He spent time doing cross-country running for his high school in Detroit

Bob Seger

-Like Alice Cooper, Bob Seger ran cross-country-type running for his high school

Joe Strummer

-A member of The Clash, he was on his school's cross-country running team

Roger Waters

-The bassist for Pink Floyd, he took on a more grueling sport. The future Pink Floyd bassist made a somewhat name for himself playing rugby

In some cases, rockers gave up their sports dreams to take up music, but they still partake in it just to keep sane and fit

Steve Harris

-Before he found music, he wanted to be a professional soccer player (footballer) for his beloved team, West Ham United. After discovering the rigors of training, he gave it up. He still plays soccer in his spare time. He organizes impromptu soccer matches, which included, at one time, Bob Marley

Rod Stewart

-He dreamed of being a famous footballer (soccer player). He captained his school's team. His father was an amateur coach and player, encouraging him to try out for the local league, Brentford F.C.

Billy Joel

-Before he found fame as "The Piano Man", Billy Joel learned to get fast hands on the piano from boxing. He was a teen amateur boxer in New York, winning his first 22 bouts and even managed to compete in the state's Golden Gloves tournament. He gave the sport up after having his nose broken in his 24th match

Bob Marley

-Soccer was a sport he was passionate about. He would regularly play in pickup games on tour and at home in Jamaica. Neville Garrick, a friend and art director told The Undefeated "Even though Bob wasn't a big, strong man, he was aggressive. On a big field, he was a very offensive-minded player, always looking for an opportunity to score." He was so obsessed with the sport that he even played when fields weren't available. He and his staff developed a game called Money Ball, which they played inside hotel suites. "If you broke anything, you'd have to pay for it. That's why we called it Money Ball."

Ginger Baker

-This man dreamed of becoming a professional cyclist before drumming lured him away. In his teens, he would compete in cycling races, time trials, convincing himself he would make a career out of it. He told The Calgary in 2013 "One day I had a smashup and the bike was a write-off. I had to earn some money, and this mate of mine said "why don't you play drums?" It's funny - they all knew I was a drummer and I didn't."

Marvin Gaye

-High school or college didn't see sports for this man. This man dreamed of sports even when he had become a star musician. He met Lem Barney and Mel Farr of the Detroit Lions in 1968 and became fast friends. They met by playing golf. Gaye even had the NFL players provide spoken lyrics in his trademark 1971 hit "What's Going On". To Barney and Farr's surprise, Gaye requested to tryout with the Lions. He was 31 then and had never played football before. He reportedly said he'd "rather catch a pass and score a touchdown in Tiger Stadium than rack up another gold record." He put on 30 pounds of muscle weight and ran miles a day to prepare. He even went through a full day of contact-free training with the Lions. Despite his effort and hard work, he wasn't invited. "Coach just told him "I love you, Marv. I love your attitude"" Farr told ESPN later. "But it wasn't enough to push him over the level where Coach would want to put him in pads."

Bruce Dickinson

-This one is obvious, lol. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about Bruce Dickinson knows his main sport of passion is fencing. This is sometimes seen as a sport for those with a lot of $$$. Long before he found fame as the vocalist for one of the world's top heavy metal bands, he was passionate about fencing. Starting at age 13, he represented his school in competitions. He even became the captain of the fencing team. At one point, he ranked #7 fencer in all of Britain. Despite the fact that music consumed his whole focus, he found time to fence. He continues this sport to this very day. In an interview with Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, "For me, fencing is training. I fence because I enjoy it and the by-product is that I end up getting in reasonably good shape. Actually, fencing is very similar to the way I run around on stage. Or maybe I run around stage like that because I fence. Either way, it works for me."

Robbin Crosby

-As a guitarist in 80s hair band Ratt, he strongly considered a career in sports before pursuing music. At 6'5'', he already has the height and build for athletics. He spent his youth pursuing many sports, including baseball

The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe

 This book, like Under the Rainbow by Celia Laskey, and others, came out (no pun intended) at the local library during LGBTQ Appreciation Month. The books under this title celebrated and/or concerned people in this large community. The Knockout Queen is just one of those many books. I thought it was excellent. In a way, it sort of represents the massive homophobia that those who are gay face every day, especially in the days after that college student Matthew Shepard was tied to a fence and beaten nearly to death, only to die from his injuries because of one thing-he happened to be gay. People who are LGBTQ seem to often face hatred and discrimination based on who they love. I can say that anyone in the LGBTQ community is fine with me. I don't hate or judge; I can't. It's A.) not who I am and B.) hypocritical of me to think bad of anyone in the LGBTQ community when I listen to Elton John, who's gay, Judas Priest, whose front man Rob Halford is gay, David Bowie, who's bisexual, Queen, whose then front man Freddie Mercury is bisexual but current front man Adam Lambert is gay.

Summary

-North Shore. Modern day. North Shore is a small town just outside Los Angeles. It's one of those everyone-knows-everyone type towns. It's dominated by an oil factory and mostly industrial work. Bunny Lampert is the star player on her high school's volleyball team with Olympic dreams in mind. Her dad, Ray, is one the town's most successful real estate agents, though he has some skeletons in the closet and is a raging alcoholic. Her next door neighbor is Michael Hesketh, a teen struggling with his homosexuality who is caught smoking in her back yard one day. Rather than yell at him, they become fast friends. He even comes out to her and straight up tells her he's gay. They spend evenings watching RuPaul's Drag Race and become fast friends. Then one day, everything changes. A bullying classmate finds out something about Michael and spreads vicious gossip around the school. Bunny smashes the girl's head in and she's put into a medically-induced coma, only to later die. As Bunny is put in prison for manslaughter, Michael and Bunny drift apart until years later. They reconnect and discover that Bunny is a championship MMA fighter who's starting to suffer from memory problems after taking many hits to the head while Michael is working on a doctorate in evolution.

Geezer Butler among many who don't like new Cardi B song "WAP"

 Not surprisingly, this song is considered nasty to a lot of people, including Geezer Butler.

Among those who don't like the new hit song "WAP" from Cardi B, Geezer is among them. In an interview with Kerrang! Magazine, Butler stated "It's disgusting! A friend of mine who didn't know what the song was about but his 10-year old girl was singing it. I was like "what?!" To put it on an album, fair enough. But to put it out as a single? That's...a bit much."

The song's title more or less means "wet ass pussy". This phrase is repeated several times through the song, in addition to descriptions of sexual acts. This single was released by Cardi B in August and features Megan Three Stallion, an up-and-coming rapper on guest vocals. This drew the attention of conservative people because of it's highly illicit lyrics. Despite this, it stayed for four weeks at #1

In the same interview, the Black Sabbath bassist/lyricist further explained. "I remember when Elvis came out everybody said he was Satan. And then in the '60s and '70s he became America's national treasure. It happens with every new wave of music. Like metal, obviously. The Christians were going mental when Sabbath came about. And then when rap came about, people were up in arms about that and certain words rappers were using."

Fans of Cardi B claim the song is about female empowerment, a message supposedly lost on Butler. He's admitted he's probably not among the target fans of the song, noting that at age 71 he's "a bloody old goat."

Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith says Iron Maiden merchandise works "too well"

As the title suggests, Adrian Smith, one of the veteran axe slingers from Iron Maiden, suggests that Iron Maiden merchandise works too well.

I can safely say that I am one of those people who, when seen wearing an Iron Maiden shirt, is wearing one for the legit reason of actually liking their music. I wear band shirts because I listen to the band on the shirt. And in this case, I wear Iron Maiden shirts because I like their music

He remarked the pros and cons of people recognizing Maiden's iconic mascot and that it resulted in people wearing the iconic logo and Eddie without having some sort of connection or knowledge of the music

In a recent interview with Louder, Smith recalled "No matter where we go, we always see our merchandise around. A great thing about this band is that we go and take our music to the people, wherever that may take us. Doing that also means people stick with you. Having said that, I've walked by people in those shirts who had no idea who I was! I think our merchandise works a little too well like that."

He did, however recall a moment when the band's high visibility amused him. "I was out fishing in Ireland with my dad. Word had got out in the local village, and these kids started turning up, all wearing Eddie shirts, just watching us from the banks for a while. I went over and they asked if we could sign their things, and just as I did, two nuns walked up! They looked at the album, looked at me and thought it was hilarious!"

In the same interview, he also mentioned the downside of being part of such a big-name act. "In places like Italy and Mexico, I've found the police escorts can be a little...enthusiastic. Too much you might say! People think it's glamorous getting this escort, but it can be very stressful, especially when you get a bit carsick and your driver thinks he's in an action movie, speeding through the night at 100 mph with his sunglasses on!"

Despite everything, the guitarist and his band mates have no plans to retire in the near future. "Even now, there's still a little bit of insecurity and wanting to prove things to people, do things we haven't before. It's like fishing - there's always bigger fish and new places to explore., always something to look forward to. It's what keeps me going. That and things like playing tennis with [bassist] Steve Harris to keep me fit. I don't think any of us feel like slowing down - we still want to get out there!"

Iron Maiden makes Eddie downright scary for the cover of The X Factor

There's no way to make Eddie the 'Ead, as he's affectionately known, any scarier than he already is. WRONG! Iron Maiden managed to do it. They took their affectionately-loved-by-the-fans mascot and gave him a total overhaul for their 1995 album The X Factor. Something creative to know about this is if you know anything about Roman numerals, X is 10 and this was their 10th studio album

Created by Hugh Syme, he outdid himself on this outlandish cover, showing the famed Maiden mascot as a victim of the electric chair amidst other tortures. He was and is known for creating covers for some of the biggest names in metal. It was a common occurrence for Syme to encounter strange, creepy things around his family home. It was only a matter of time before he came up with the grotesque Eddie that would grace the cover of Maiden's 10th studio album in 1995

"My daughters benefitted [by knowing] that anything remotely unsettling or horrific that they saw in the movies was the product of models and art direction," he tells Ultimate Classic Rock.  "They grew up with the torso of Eddie in plain view in our basement, where they would often play. It wasn't lost on them that there was a thing called "special effects"."

Illustrator Derek Riggs created the original Eddie for the band's 1980 debut album, as a brain-wasted youth with longer hair. This mascot has adorned tons of merchandise for the band over the years and in the 1990s, when metal was being swept under the rug by a short-lived movement called grunge, Maiden wanted to get a fresh take on Eddie. For their 1992 album Fear of the Dark, they sought out Melvyn Grant to create a sort-of Nosferatu tree Eddie. They recruited Syme to create the cover for the follow up, which was to feature one Blaze Bayley, formerly of Wolfsbane, on vocals

"[the band's] manager at the time, Merck Mercuriadis, introduced me to [bassist] Steve Harris," says Syme. Mercuriadis was known for working extensively with Rush. "I remember asking why they would want to deviate from Derek's pretty well-established [style]. I was sensitive to that-if Rush's art director was replaced by somebody else, I know how that would feel. It's a sad day for everybody, I presume-particularly the loyal and protective fans, so unique to Rush. So when the band started talking about taking Eddie to a place with a bit more realism, I said "Where is this coming from? You have such a long history with an illustrative, graphic novel feel."

The band was blown away by Syme's work with another famed character, Vic Rattlehead, the famed Megadeth mascot and how he'd used the scary skeleton in more subtle ways than one on two of Megadeth's albums- 1992's Countdown to Extinction and 1994's Youthanasia. "They said "We like that Megadeth deviated from the norms of their Vic-centric world.", says Syme

Iron Maiden certainly gave Syme a blank slate to work with, which worked out perfectly. It allowed him creative freedom to create the cover we know of today. "They didn't say they wanted torture or evisceration or disembodied torsos," he says. "I was talking a little bit about trepanning, the ancient Neolithic curiosity of removing the top of the skull, or drilling a hole, to see what makes us tick-the very early, crude days of surgery. And I'm a huge fan of the art direction in movies like Blade Runner and Terry Gilliam's Brazil."

Syme says he entered the project free from expectations. He was sensitive to the legacy of Iron Maiden's Eddie but "eager to make it work". He took this as a personal challenge. He sculpted and painted the figure, created a torture table and hired a local friend who did hunting and trapping to "introduce some actual entrails at the bottom of the photo". Syme also states he gave this friend credit as the "entrail wrangler".

Making all of this digital was a challenge in itself, given the mid-90s technology. Syme says "It was the early days of digital medium transferring-you couldn't upload files at the time, the Internet was in its infancy. We were doing counter-to-counter shipments from my studio in Indiana to London. We would have a guy show up in the middle of winter at my place and pick up a disk which then held a maximum amount of 200 megabytes of data. That would be driven to the Indianapolis airport, put on a plane and picked up at Heathrow. It was something like $400 a trip. It was getting ridiculous and cumbersome.

"Merck said "Come on over. I'll set you up with the best digital suite in London." I spent two weeks meeting with the band almost every day. It was great to be able to hang -and drink - with the guys, present the daily work-in-progress and have them come over to the graphic studio to see my progress."

The end results, a torture chamber, exposed brain of the victim, vampiric teeth, was seen as fairly dark, even by Iron Maiden's usual standards. Steve Harris stated he was going through a lot of personal trouble at the time, such as going through a divorce from his high school sweetheart-turned-wife and the mother of his four kids and the band's previous singer quitting and the darkness of his personal troubles was finding its way into the music. Some feel that the personal demons he was fighting at the time found their way into the music and the artwork. The image on the back, however, shows Eddie strapped into an electric chair, getting ready to ride the lightning

Syme explains "The electric chair was created as an ancillary image for the back cover, or interior panel within the CD Digipak or booklet, but never as a front cover." He notes he's "unaware" of online commentary that some retailers banned the primary image and used the rear one instead. Though he never worked with Iron Maiden after that, he fondly remembers his brush with Eddie. "That was a fun project. That cover was an effort at bringing some palpable reality to the otherwise more fantasial illustrative style that preceded. And we still have Eddie laying in state in my studio, by the way."

November birthdays

 Since it's November, it's time to say Happy Birthday

Billy Idol

-Birth name: William Michael Albert Broad

-DOB: 11/30/1955

-Where: Middlesex, England

-Was kicked out of the Goring Cub Scouts for kissing a girl at age 10

Tommy Thayer

-Birth name: Thomas Cunningham Thayer

-DOB: 11/7/1960

-Where: Portland, Oregon

-Played guitar for German female rock musician Doro Pesch

Rick Allen

-Birth name: Richard John Cyril Allen

-DOB: 11/1/1963

-Where: Sheffield, England

-When Rick Allen auditioned for Def Leppard, he used the song "Emerald" by Thin Lizzy

Roger Glover

-Birth name: Roger David Glover

-DOB: 11/30/1945

-Where: Brecon, United Kingdom

-Produced Judas Priest's album Sin After Sin

Bobby Dall

-Birth name: Robert Harry Kuykendall

-DOB: 11/2/1963

-Where: Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

-Is the bassist for 80s metal band Poison

DJ Ashba

-DOB: 11/10/1972

-Where: Monticello, Indiana

-Was raised by his single mother, who was a religious classically trained pianist

Dave Ellefson

-Birth name: David Warren Ellefson

-DOB: 11/12/1964

-Where: Jackson, Minnesota

-Played bass guitar for Megadeth from 1982-2002, 2010-present day

Frankie Banali

-DOB: 11/14/1951

-Where: Queens, New York

-DOD: 8/20/2020

-Where: Los Angeles, California (pancreatic cancer)

-Played in bands like Faster Pussycat, Quiet Riot, W.A.S.P.

Rudy Sarzo

-Birth name: Rodolfo Maximiliano Sarzo

-DOB: 11/18/1950

-Where: Havana, Cuba

-Played in Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne's band and Quiet Riot

Steven Van Zandt

-Birth name: Steven Lento

-DOB: 11/22/1950

-Where: Winthrop, Massachusetts

-He's the brother-in-law of actress Adrienne Barbeau

Jonny Lee Miller

-Birth name: Jonathan Lee Miller

-DOB: 11/15/1972

-Where: Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England

-His grandfather is actor Bernard Lee, who played M in the very early James Bond films

Cynic leader Paul Masvidal defends Sebastian Bach against homophobic joke made by comedian

 That's right. A comedian made a homophobic joke directed at Rob Halford. Cynic leader Paul Masvidal stands up and gives Sebastian Bach praise for defending close friend Rob Halford

During an interview on podcast Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll, Paul Masvidal gave high praise and applause to Sebastian Bach for his response to a homophobic joke directed at Judas Priest front man Rob Halford.

Early in the interview, Bach explained how he heard that Halford does not do pre-show warm ups, which a comedian named Big Jay Oakerson responded "His exercise is probably something gay he doesn't want to tell ya. You gotta gargle jizz, but I dunno how to tell you that, Sebastian."

Bach, immediately angry at the homophobic insult towards someone he calls a friend, responded "Dude, could you not wreck this interview?" He stated Halford is a close friend and that the comedian should "skip those kinds of comments". Not long after, he left the Zoom interview

Paul Masvidal came out as publicly gay in 2014. He felt Bach did something responsible and that he did "the right thing" by leaving the interview while saying that underscoring this incident is an example of how homophobia is "culturally perpetuated when a comic can use the word "gay" in a derogatory way disguised as humor."

Furthermore, Masvidal added in an Instagram post "This ain't about being uptight. It's about ending the normalization of homophobic bull----. And in the same way that Bach has grown up since the days he'd wear AIDS: kills f---s dead t-shirts, Big Jay Oakerson needs to as well."

Masvidal later noted that Halford commented on the situation, giving it his usual sense of humor by saying he swallows, not gargles, but that this shouldn't be a means for Oakerson to "feel justified" for his actions.

Glenn Tipton will be part of next Judas Priest album

Producer Andy Sneap says that former Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton will be part of the next Judas Priest album.

Despite stepping away from the band after his initial diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease, Tipton is still very much part of the band's songwriting process. During a podcast called No F---in Way with Robb Flynn, Andy Sneap had this to say

"[He is] still very much part of Judas Priest.". Sneap added that "he's still involved with the songwriting."

"Even if have to bit pieces together, he's still gonna be a major part of it. It's just the physical aspect of him going up there and doing it. And especially with what's happening now in the world, it's just not something you can consider at the moment."

He opened up about Tipton's health, stating "It's tough, because Glenn's a good friend now, after working with him for a few years...but seeing what the guy is going through, and he's so determined. I'll see him at the studio, and he'll be struggling, if I'm honest, but he's so determined. And it must be frustrating for him, someone who's lived his whole life in Judas Priest - 50 years. It's a rotten thing to actually happen to anyone, but to happen to a guitarist of his caliber..."

Singer Rob Halford, currently supporting the release of his memoir Confess, told Full Metal Jackie what they were going to do for the band's next album. "It's very important to look back at your past experiences. That is what we do in bands. We look at where we've gone and what we've said. We're always kind of reevaluating where are and what we're working on now and I think the world already knows that Priest has started to follow up to Firepower and it's starting to come together and sounding incredible. So this whole focus of living in the moment but also getting ready for what's coming next is what drives us and so that's where we are with Priest right now."

October birthdays

 Since it's October, time to say Happy Birthday

KK Downing

-Birth name: Kenneth Kevin Downing

-DOB: 10/27/1951

-Where: West Bromwich, England

-He left Judas Priest in 2011, citing reasons such as disagreements between him, management and elements of the band

Tommy Lee

-Birth name: Thomas Lee Bass

-DOB: 10/3/1962

-Where: Athens, Greece

-The only member of Motley Crue not born in the US

Hugh Jackman

-Birth name: Hugh Michael Jackman

-DOB: 10/12/1968

-Where: Sydney, Australia

-Met his wife Deborrah-Lee Furness on the set of an Australian prison drama called Corelli

Brian Johnson

-Birth name: Brian Francis Johnson

-DOB: 10/5/1947

-Where: Dunston, United Kingdom

-Became the singer for AC/DC in 1980, shortly after the death of original front man Bon Scott

Kate Winslet

-Birth name: Kate Elizabeth Winslet

-DOB: 10/5/1975

-Where: Reading, United Kingdom

-Known for playing headstrong, outgoing characters

Sting

-Birth name: Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner

-DOB: 10/2/1951

-Where: Wallsend, Newcastle, England

-Earned his nickname "Sting" from his habit of wearing a black and yellow striped sweater during his days with the Phoenix Jazzmen

Chris Slade

-Birth name: Christopher Slade Rees

-DOB: 10/30/1946

-Where: Pontypridd, United Kingdom

-He started drumming with AC/DC from 1989-1994, on their album The Razors Edge

Glenn Tipton

-Birth name: Glenn Raymond Tipton

-DOB: 10/25/1947

-Where: Blackheath, United Kingdom

-Was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2015 and his last official tour with the band was 2015's Redeemer of Souls. He still wrote music for the band's next album, Firepower, and the songs are credited to him, but producer Andy Sneap played guitar in his place on tour

Mikkey Dee

-Birth name: Micael Kiriakos Delaglou

-DOB: 10/31/1963

-Where: Gothenburg, Sweden

-Drummed for Motorhead from 1991-2015, when the band disbanded after frontman/bassist Lemmy Kilmister's death. He now drums for German rock band The Scorpions

"Fast" Eddie Clarke

-Birth name: Edward Allan Clarke

-DOB: 10/5/1950

-Where: Twickenham, United Kingdom

-DOD: 1/10/2018

-Where: London, United Kingdom

-Played guitar in Motorhead and side band Fastway with former UFO member Pete Way

John Lennon

-Birth name: John Winston Ono Lennon

-DOB: 10/9/1940

-Where: Liverpool, England

-DOD: 12/8/1980

-Where: New York (murder)

-Changed his name to John Winston Ono Lennon after falling in love with artist Yoko Ono

15 Bands Banned by Disney

 Here's something you are probably not shocked to see. Bands banned by Disney, lol. Disney is notoriously known for being picky on the music it chooses for its movies. It seems like Disney was destined to be stuck in the showtunes loop until the early 2000s when legendary rocker Genesis drummer-turned-singer Phil Collins was chosen to create music for the film Tarzan. Maybe Disney is opening its eyes to the possibility of rock or even metal bands making music for its films? But here are 15 bands said to be banned by Disney

Cannibal Corpse

-Not shocking to see this one. With song titles like "Dead Human Collection", "Frantic Disembowelment", would you really want a child hearing a band with a name as grotesque as this? I mean, the band is successful, but Disney, not surprisingly, is VERY OLD FASHIONED! This band probably won't be playing Disneyworld any time soon. Even though it's probably not known worldwide that vocalist "Corpsegrinder" goes to Disney World all the time

Exodus

-Originally, this band was slated for a gig at the House of Blues at Disney. One problem occurred-the Bay Area thrashers were told they were "too metal". Suffice to say, all is not lost. They simply played a gig elsewhere in Tampa, Florida that night

The Dillinger Escape Plan

-This band was among the first of the metal bands to be banned from Disney. Vocalist Greg Puciato had a habit of bleeding on stage, which might otherwise frighten the various demographics who frequent the Happiest Place on Earth. But yet, Disney had kids watching a hunter gun down Bambi's mother and a lion named Scar push his own brother Mufasa to his death from a cliff into a stampede of wildebeest. The band basically said "F--- the Disneyland House of Blues"

Machine Head

-The name sounds perfectly innocent. Nothing grotesque. Nothing macabre. Nothing ominous. So why would Machine Head be banned by Disney? Three reasons-violent imagery, undesirable fans and inflammatory lyrics, at least that's what Disney thinks. Despite the fact that Machine Head, whose very name sounds innocent, toured with The Black Dahlia Murder, All That Remains and Dethklok, whose music is probably worse or different, Machine Head was the only band barred from playing at the onsite music venue

Gallows

-This hardcore British punk band got put on the "black list" of bands banned from the Disney House of Blues for being "too offensive". Punk music as a whole is probably considered "too offensive" by the prudish people at Disney

Every Time I Die

-The name unfortunately does help this case. This band was given no reason as to why they were banned. Some thought it was because children shouldn't have to look at a band name like this. Like the Tootsie Pop commercials "The world may never know."

Cattle Decapitation

-Despite the name, the vegan deathgrinders of this band are strongly against consuming meat and slaughtering animals, but still, due to the name, Disney still considers them "too brutal" for the House of Blues. Some think that if their 2002 album was named something different than To Serve Man, they may have been able to play

The Faceless

-Meshuggah, a metal band whose name means "crazy" in Yiddish is granted entry to the House of Blues. The name of this band sounds innocent. So what could be wrong? Here's what is wrong in the eyes of Disney. They're a tech-death band. The lyrics of both bands are not bad; they deal with society, consciousness among other themes. Perfectly realistic. It could just be the name

Warbringer

-This band was given no reason as to why they were banned by Disney. So, of course, the band has all reasons to fire back at the Happiest Place on Earth. Vocalist John Kevill highlighted parts of Disney movies he would otherwise consider offensive. One example he brought up were the hyenas in The Lion King goose-stepping Nazi-style below Scar, as if he were Adolf Hitler, during "Scar's Song" and another example were the racial stereotyped crows portraying blacks in Dumbo. He thought this countered any issue of Warbringer's musical content about war, destruction and general violence didn't even come close to the rampant racial bias in some Disney movies

Thy Art is Murder

-Disney is notorious for strong censors. So it's no surprise that Australian deathcore metallers Thy Art is Murder were banned from the onsite concert venue in 2015 on their tour with Parkway Avenue. They came back and made a Bad Brains mock up t-shirt showing the Magic Kingdom castle being struck by lightning with "Banned in Disney" printed across the bottom right corner as a badge of honor. You have to give it to Thy Art is Murder; they are creative in the art of payback

Skeletonwitch

-2013 marks the year this band joins the "black list" of bands banned from Disney's House of Blues. Amon Amarth and Enslaved were allowed to play, but Skeletonwitch got the big "no way you're playing here". Some could say it's ironic-Viking raids bashing skulls are fine, but spiked gauntlets and bullet belts are not?

letlive.

-In 2015, this band was on tour with Taking Back Sunday. This band was cut from the set list at Disney; they were banned from playing here. When informing their fans they would not be playing at the House of Blues and Disney offered no explanation as to why, they were serious in their post on social media when they said "Rumor has it that Goofy, Pluto and most of Toontown were in protest against the decision, but Chairman Mouse exercised veto powers and struck down the proposition in the end."

Exmortus

-2015 marks the year this melodic deathmetal band couldn't play for fans at the Anaheim, California Disney World. The band couldn't figure out why they were banned. Disney simply considered them "too objectionable"

Ice Nine Kills

-Despite the fact the name sounds more like a rapper's street or stage name, this band is most definitely metal. In April 2019, a fan of the band got on Twitter and asked the band why their show at the House of Blues in Orlando was no longer occurring. The band replied "Disney's House of Blues in Orlando banned us from performing because of our violent imagery. It's a shame because I know I've seen Donald Duck at a show before, he's an INK fan."

Hyro the Hero

-In the summer of 2019, this band was on tour with Nonpoint. They discovered, to their horror, they've been banned from the House of Blues at Disney World in Orlando. The band simply Tweeted "So I just found out Disney World won't allow me to perform at the House of Blues in Orlando on our tour with Nonpoint. Y'all have any idea why they singled me out?"